Worksheet 02: Literature search and management
Quality not quantity
Dr. Gordon Wright 
A question for you.
How many journal articles are you able/willing to read for your Personality Essay?
Let’s say 5 is your answer. (of course, you need to be the judge of what the right answer is, but I’d wager 5 is likely in the low end of the range)
Strategy 1 - Read the first 5 papers that turn up on Google when you type in Academic Success?
Strategy 2 - Read the first 5 papers that turn up on the Library search when you type in Academic Success?
Which is better, Strategy 1 or Strategy 2?
Maybe neither 1 nor 2 is necessarily optimal… What might be a better approach?
Strategy is important though. You want to be strategic. You want a ‘Search Strategy’
Some key considerations are:
Where you search and what tools you use
What you search for (your search terms)
What types of papers you are going to look for
How you handle the intial results
How you refine those results and decide that the search is over
How you read and ingest those results
How you take notes and focus on all the areas you need to to answer the question
Lab Challenge! [15 mins]
A quick overview from your Lab Tutor. Pay attention.
Research Skill Audit
Complete the survey and save the data to your lab notebook. A useful ‘reflection’!
Topic Speed Dating
See the Miro board entitled ‘Topic Brainstorming’ - Please add, comment, list your potential topics!
Methods Matching
Use the Miro board entitled ‘MethodsMania’ and see if anything tickles your experimental fancy!
Group Behaviour & Group Ethos
Now is the time to formalise how you plan to work. Use the Miro board entitled ‘TeamTools & Ethos’